Adhémar de Chaunac

[1][2] He was born in 1896 in Montfaucon, Lot, France, into an ancient aristocratic family,[3] the son of Bernard de Chaunac-Lanzac and Marguerite Bibonnet.

Alongside viticulturalist George Hostetter, he was to have a major impact on the long-term prospects of the North American wine industry.

The use of French hybrid varieties allowed for a more neutral flavour profile for wine production while still providing tolerances to climatic, soil, and disease conditions that had made the use of traditional Vitis vinifera varieties impossible in North American viticulture at that time.

[6] It was de Chaunac, along with John Paroshy who first tested the use of Vidal blanc for the production of ice wine.

Vidal is now the most common ice-wine grape in Ontario, producing ice wines which are a successful export product and routinely win international competitions.